Haircutting guide



Aug. 24, 1965 F. A. DUMONT 3,202,158

HAIRCUTTING GUIDE Filed Jan. 17, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

FRANCIS A. DUMONT ATTORNEYS Aug. 24, 1965 r A. DUMONT 1 3,202,158

HAIRCUTTING GUIDE Filed Jan. 17, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FHJIZ.

INVENTOR.

FRANCIS A. DUMONT Y ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,202,158 HAIRCUTTING GUIDE 'Francis A. Dumont, 163 Cornell St., Cranston 9, RJ.

This invention relates to a haircutting guide for home haircutting by the amateur.

An object of the invention is to provide a guide so that tone unskilled in haircuttin g may achieve a presentable haircut by eliminating the fear of stepladder result-s.

Another object of this invention is to provide a guide which will enable a person to cut his own hair or the hair of another person.

Another object of the invention is to provide a haircutters guide which may be used in combination with clippers or scissors or other barbering equipment, all of which may be used by the unskilled to cut either anothers hair or his own.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fixed guide for the head so that only the cutting implements will be necessary to be manipulated for cutting the hair.

Another object of the invention is to provide a haircutting guide which will not obstruct the use of such barbers instruments such as clippers and the like by getting into the teeth thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement so that the length of hair may be varied at different parts of the head.

Another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement so that the hair may be drawn outwardly through the guide to be operated upon by the clippers.

Another object of the invention is to provide a guide which will be sufliciently adjustable to fit most any head .and neck and one which may be adjusted as to different lengths of hair desired and hair styles.

Another object of the invention is to provide a guide which will permit close and uniform cutting along the hair line, at the nape of the neck and around the ears.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device which may be mass produced in many different sizes.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 7

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the guide as positioned on the head of a person;

FIG. 2 is a detail of one of the guide bars and its connection to the expandable frame and also modified in its attachment to the lower end of the guide bars and its spacing projection;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic View illustrating a clipper with brushes attached thereto for use in connection with this guide;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a detail on an enlarged scale showing the connection of the lower end of the guide bars;

FIG. 5 is a perspective fragmental view of a modified projection from one of the guide bars;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a modified guide;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of a modified guide bar;

FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 are elevations of fragmental ends of guide bars connected together;

3,202,153 Patented Aug. 24, 1965 FIG. 11 is a sectional view of the structure of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 12 is a plan View of the connection of FIG. 9.

With reference to the drawings, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 an expandable frame 20 which encircles the head. This frame is composed of two sections 23 and 24. Each of these sections 23 and 24 are made up of lazy tong type of linkage which comprises pairs of bars designated 1 pivoted at their centers as at 25, While each pair of bars is pivoted to another pair of bars at their ends 26 and 27 so as to provide the lazy tong arrangement. The pivots are formed by hollow tubes or eyelets 3 which hollow tubes provide additional functions at the edges of the expandable frame shown. The hollow pivots at 25 play no particular function and may be solid rivets. The function :of the hollow rivets at the ends 26, 27 will be further pointed out.

Guide bars 6 are of various cross sections; those shown in FIG. 1 are of generally rectangular cross section and are made of high carbon steel so as to retain their shape when once bent into the shape which they will assume. Each bar 6 is about A of an inch wide and & thick, for example. These guide bars pass through the hollow eyelets 3 at the locations 27 at the lower edge of the frame and are provided with an arcuate form outwardly of the head as they depend from the frame while they are arched inwardly toward the head as they protrude upwardly on the inner surface of the frame. This inwardly protruding portion of the bar is designated 4, and it is attached to the upper end of the frame by passing through the hollow eyelet or rive-t in the location 26 at the upper edge of the frame and is then bent sharply as at 28 (see FIG. 2) so as to maintain it in position. In order to prevent this portion 4 10f the bar from sliding through the rivet, the bar is bent sharply as at 29 and 30 on the inner surface of the frame while leaving the bowed portion 4 projecting inwardly as at 5. This bowed portion serves to engage the head and space the frame from the head and also serves as a spring or resilient member tending to have its ends 29 and 30 move away from each other and cause the lazy tong links of the frame to collapse and draw inwardly into a smaller circumference. The bar at the lower edge of the frame is also bent sharply as at 31 to again anchor the bar to the frame so that it will not slide through the hollow eyelet while the bar is arched outwardly as shown more clearly in FIG. 2 so that it will have the proper spacing from the head to provide the desired length of hair at various locations along the head. These bars 6 are of varying lengths and together the ends Of the bars are contoured to correspond to the desired hairline of the head and neck. Thus the bars which extend along the back of the head are the longest, while the bars that approach the ears are progressively shorter as they extend down towards the ear and then become again longer and terminate in a straight line along the portion which would be considered the sideburns. Along the forehead the bars extend down on to the forehead so as to give guide stability to hold the device in place as they extend below the hairline along at a location spaced from the projection serve to vary the spacing of the guide bar from the head so that at each location that the bar is thus positioned, the hair length will be the distance that the guide bar is from the head. This spacing distance while controlled by the U bend '7 of the guide bar may be varied by postioning a separable part 8 on this projection '7 which is in the form of a sleeve which will snugly fit over the U bend and be held in position by the resiliency of the U bend of the bar expanding against the inner bore of this sleeve.

In some cases the projection may be as shown at 22 in FIG. 5 having portion 21 frictionally embracing the bar 6so that it may be adjustedalong the bar to various positions for differently spacing the bar from the head.

The lower ends of the bars are connected together by some sort of means to control the lower ends of the bars and hold them in a definite spaced relation. To accomplish this, I have provided an opening 18 in each of the guide bars 6 at its lower end and attached a helical wire 17 to the guide bars at the lower end conveniently by threading the helical wire of the wire 17 through the openings 18 of the guide bars. This wire 17 is relatively rigid and provides the desired spacing of the bars at the lower edge and the shaping of this edge of the device after the device is positioned over the larger upper part of the head. It also provides a good fit about the ears and prevents the bars from pressing into the flesh of the neck and gives a better guide for the clippers at this important edge location. In some cases the bars at their lower ends may be bent into an eye 33 as in FIG. 2 to snugly frictionally engage a nylon cord 34 as there shown to hold the ends in fixed spaced relation.

The frame may be modified, as shown in FIG. 6, where I have shown at a band of metal or plastic which will have overlapped the ends as at 42 and 43 preferably at the forehead area. A slot 38 is provided in the underlying end 42 and a bolt with wing nut 39 passes through the slot and through an opening in the overlying end 43 so that the band may be adjusted as to encircling size. This band is also provided with pairs of holes 47 along its opposite edges, each pair being vertically aligned, which holes will serve the function of the openings at 26 and 27 through the eyelets 3 for the passage of the guide bars.

The guide bars may also be modified from the showing in FIGS. 1 and 2 by being circular or oval in cross section. Also two guide bars may be formed by bending a single length so as to provide a bridging portion 45 at the lower ends of the arcuate portions 46 as seen in FIG. 6

and by passing the ends of the guide bars from the inside of the band outwardly through the lower openings and then inwardly through the upper openings of the band where each guide bar will then have a free end such as 50 shown in FIG. 7 which will project downwardly to a desired extent substantially the width of the band to act as a spacer for the band from the head.

In FIG. 7 a further modified form of bar is shown in which a single bar is shaped as at 49, 51 and 52 so as -to hold it within the frame, such as shown in FIG. 6,

while leaving the bowed portion 44 in between, and in this case instead of connecting the arch shape bars 55 at their lower ends 56, rubber tips 57 are provided which spaced relation by providing a half-moon portion as at 62 at the lower end and flattening the are as at 60 and connecting the foot portion 61 to the half-moon of the next wire by rolling that portion as at 59 about the portion 60 such as shown in FIG. 11 leaving a space such as .shown at 67 for connecting purposes. .guide bars being of oval shape having one axis greater In this case the than the other, the space 67 will be such that it will be substantially the size of the minor oval axis so that by aligning the narrow dimension of the bar with the opening, it may be passed therethrough and then turned at substantially 90 so that its major axis will then be in line with the opening to prevent withdrawal.

In FIG. 9 there is illustrated the double bars such as indicated in FIG. 6, but in this case there is a half-moon 64 formed outwardly at the junction of the bridging portions 66 and the vertical portions 63, and a link such as shown in FIG. 12 having two loops 65 is bent around each of the half-moon portions 64 of adjacent pairs. of bars so as to hold them in spaced relation.

In the use of the double bars the spacing connection may be made at the U portion as shown in FIG. 10, where the bridging portions 45 of the bars 46 may be embraced by two loops of the helical coil .5 with two loops of the helical coil between each pair of bars so as to properly space them.

In use it is desirable to draw the hair out through the bars which are spaced substantially from each other, and this moving of the hair out through the bars may be done by some sort of a vacuum attachment or by a brush. I have illustrated in FIG. 3 a clipper 35 which has afiixed to it at 13 a frame 11 and 12 upon which there is mounted a brush 10 which is generally of short cylindrical shape about the width of the clipper, and on the undersurface of the clipper, I have also mounted a brush 15. Brushes of a raggedy fiber are best for this use. The edge of the clipper and its comb-like structure is as at 36, and it will be seen that if this device is moved along the bars with the clipper teeth pressed against the bars as a guide, the brushes will draw the hair out from the head between the bars and the clipper will cut off the parts of the hair which extend beyond the bars, thus giving to the hair the length of the outer surface that the bars are spaced from the head. The bars, of course, are closer to the head at their lower edge where the hair will become shorter, and beyond the edge 37, of course, the hair will be completely clipped off should it extend below this line. By this method of operation, the guide is fixed in place and thus determines the length of the hair at the different locations on the head and a uniform haircutting may be had with the use of this device.

I claim:

1. A haircutting guide comprising an expandable halo frame, downwardly depending bars for guiding a haircutter attached at their upper portions to said frame at spaced locations along the extent of the frame, the lowe ends of said bars together being contoured to correspond to the desired hair line, means to hold the lower ends of the bars in spaced relation along the hair line, said bars being expanded laterally with respect to each other upon expansion of the encircling size of the halo frame.

2. A haircutting guide as in claim 1 wherein the halo frame comprises lazy tong links.

3. A haircutting guide as in claim 1 wherein some of said bars carry projections intermediate their ends to engage the head and prevent the bar from being pressed inwardly.

4. In a haircutting guide, a halo frame composed of lazy tong links for encircling the head with hollow rivets forming the pivotal connections between the upper and lower ends of the links, elongated arcuate bars downwardly depending from the frame and together being contoured to correspond to the desired hair line, said bars being connected to the frame by a bowed arched portion of the bars secured to said upper and lower hollow rivets, said arched portion being resilient tending to move the rivets to which it is secured in a direction to contract the halo frame and move the bars laterally with respect to each other.

5. A haircutting guide as in claim 1 wherein the means I is a helical wire.

6. A haircutting guide as in claim ll wherein each bar has a hole adjacent its lower end and said means is 10- 5 6 cated only at the lower end and comprises a helical wire 2,642,880 6/53 Corette 132-46 threaded through the holes on the lower ends of said bars. 2,698,018 12/54 Post 132-45 7. A haircutting guide as in claim 1 wherein the means 2,722,223 11/55 Fox 132-45 comprises an end of one of the bars extending at an angle 2,729,218 1/56 Harmon 132-45 thereto and connected to another of the bars. 5 2,775,245 12/56 Behr 132-46 8. A haircutting guide as in claim 1 wherein the means 2,919,702 1/ 60 Olivo 132-7 comprises a link between two of the bars. 2,949,920 8/60 Humphrey 132-45 9. A haircutting guide as in claim 1 wherein the means FOREIGN PATENTS comprises a cord. 1

10 560,041 6/23 France.

References Cited by the Examiner RICHARD A GAUDET P E UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,542,450 2/51 Altman 132-45 RAPHAEL M'LUPOEmmme" 2,581,704 1/52 Reno 132-7 

1. A HAIRCUTTING GUIDE COMPRISING AN EXPANDABLE HALO FRAME, DOWNWARDLY DEPENDING BARS FOR GUIDING A HAIRCUTTER ATTACHED AT THEIR UPPER PORTIONS TO SAID FRAME AT SPACED LOCATIONS ALONG THE EXTEND OF THE FRAME, THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID BARS TOGETHER BEING CONTOURED TO CORRESPOND TO THE DESIRED HAIR LINE, MEANS TO HOLD THE LOWER ENDS OF THE BARS IN SPACED RELATION ALONG THE HAIR LINE, SAID BARS BEING EXPANDED LATERALLY WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER UPON EXPANSION OF THE ENCIRCLING SIZE OF THE HALO FRAME. 